Old Decals

I have mostly the same issue.  I am working on my F19 and the decal sheet is very old.  I put on a few of the decals.  Parts of them slipped off easy.  I do mean "parts".  The decals would actually break in half while I moved it off the backing paper.  What can I do about this?

You might try spaying them with a clear sealer. Like the ones that come with do-it-yourself kits. Its worth a shot.

If the decal is coming off backing paper but immediatly breaking up, the chances are that it's gotten brittle from age.  In which case the remainder of the decals can probably be saved.  MicroScale's Decal Film works very well for this or you can use a clear coat (ie Gloss Coat) sprayed on.  Apply a minimum of two coats to the entire sheet, letting each coat thougherly between coats (One reason I like the MicroScale product is that you can be brushing on a 2nd coat in about 10 minutes).  Since you have now made a film across the entire sheet, remember to trim as close to the decal as you can when you remove it from the sheet.

It's been my experience that when a decal won't release from the backing sheet no matter how long you let it soak, the decal is pretty much useless.  It's most likely gotten damp which has activated the glue on the back and then dried and once that happens the glue won't reactivate.  In that case, put the decal sheet in the round file and find a new one

I am probably reviving an old post here, but would like further advice. This will make some  people laugh. I actually have an old sheet of 1/72 decals of Japanese hinomarus that I had when I was a kid back in the 60's. Put them on the old Mavis kit and the old Emily kit back then. Still got 'em believe it or not and the decals appear fine after all these years on the kits. But what about the sheet. Yep, found it about 5 years ago with a bunch of old modeling stuff that I had left at my folks house in the attic way back in ancient history.

Now, I am actually building an Aichi B7A1 Grace in the same scale and would like to use these if they are any good as they were specialty decals even back in the 60's. They are darker and deeper red colored than the kit bright red hinomaru meatball color. What are the chances? I haven't tried one yet as I am not ready for decals on ths model yet.  Any obvious ways to tell? Any tests? Or just try it on a sacrificial candidate (I actually have quite a few) and see what happens.

Thanks;

WyoDave